BROCKTON – More than a dozen area fire chiefs gathered in solidarity at Brockton Superior Court Friday but, in the end, the group was left shaking their heads. Chiefs from departments including East Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, Raynham, Brockton and Scituate, as well as Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz, were on hand Friday when Mark Sargent and Jeanmarie Louis pleaded guilty to arson.

Sargent fidgeted with his hands as tears welled up in his eyes while his stepson Louis stood beside him clasping rosary beads in his hands as they were sentenced to state prison terms after admitting their guilt to charges brought in three cases in West Bridgewater, Scituate and Marshfield in 2012 and 2013.

Authorities suspect the pair’s involvement in nearly 30 additional arson cases during that period, but they have not been charged.

Sargent, 46, of Middleboro, was sentenced to 2-3 years at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole. Louis, 24, also of Middleboro, was sentenced to 2½ years in the same prison.

Several of the fire chiefs as well as Cruz said they feel Judge Carol Ball’s punishment was too lenient.

During a plea offer Tuesday in court, Ball issued the sentences in exchange for a plea of guilty from both men on all charges brought against them.

Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Suzanne McDonough recommended that Sargent receive a sentence of 8-12 years and that Louis get 4-6 years. Louis was only charged in the West Bridgewater case.

“I think the general feeling of those in the courtroom today on the public safety side is a sense of disappointment,” said Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Grenno, who, as the president of the Fire Chiefs Association of Plymouth County acted as spokesman for the group. “It’s my thought that she had the opportunity to go as strong as she possibly could, but she chose not to.”

During her ruling, Ball said, “Based on the defendants’ lack of record and the sentencing guidelines, I believe the sentences that I indicated I would impose on Tuesday are the appropriate sentences. They fall smack dab within the guidelines. If these defendants were convicted of additional crimes it would be a very different story.”

Grenno disagreed.

“The charge of arson violates your home, it violates your business, it violates your soul. And for a judge to take the medium pathway on an arson charge is, I believe, disrespectful to the fire service and those investigators,” he said.

Cruz said the sentencing guidelines that Ball followed are discretionary and not mandatory.

“I would say that the situation here deserved a more serious sentence,” Cruz said outside of the courtroom. “For the crimes that they did to date, the three different fires, they are dangerous, they put peoples’ lives at risk – the firefighters, the regular community – and I think they need to do more time than that.”

Page 2 of 2 - Ralph Pratt’s boat was torched during a fire set by Sargent at the Taylor Marine marina in Marshfield in 2012.

Pratt, 62, of Canton said the boat, “Bampy,” that he built by hand over five years sustained $75,000 worth of damage during the fire in which several other boats were set ablaze. Pratt said he had to pay a $5,000 deductible to his insurance company, which he won’t get back.

“I’m extremely disappointed with the sentence. It just doesn’t seem like it fits the crime. Any way you cut it with three fires they’re being charged with, it seems like they got one year for each fire,” Pratt said. “I don’t understand the sentencing guidelines at all. If those are guidelines and that’s what she followed, then I think the guidelines need to be changed.”

Sargent pleaded guilty to one count of burning a building, one count of arson and six counts of burning personal property. Louis plead guilty to one count of burning a building Friday.